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Boris wants Knowledge-like test for Uber drivers

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said that minicab drivers may have to take a pared-back version of "the Knowledge" test, which famously must be undertaken by the city's black taxi drivers, in order to operate in the capital. "TfL are currently consulting on a proper geographical test so you can't drive a minicab in London unless you know one end of the city from the other," he told the audience at the State of London debate. "There will have to be basic geographical knowledge. There would have to be basic English, basic command of the English language. I don't think that's an unreasonable thing, do you? I think that is perfectly reasonable."

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When pressed to expand on exactly what will be required of drivers, Johnson said that the test will "have to be more than rudimentary", "more than left from right". He said that it won't be the same level of test as the Knowledge, as he believes "it is important that black cabs should retain their distinctiveness".

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He added that "it is not fair that a black taxi driver has to spend four years getting the Knowledge and somebody else can just cruise and take up the trade without really knowing how London works or how it all fits together."

Johnson expressed his distaste for companies like Uber who are disrupting the cab trade in London, although said he had little power to stop them operating. "I might not like the attitudes of some of these brash American internet companies and the way they think they can come over and disrupt the market in this country -- I personally don't like it, I disapprove of it, I think they're setting out to do serious economic damage to the black taxi trade. But it is not possible for me to simply ban something and expect that ban to work," he said.

Johnson also took the opportunity to call for a cap on the number of cabs operating in the capital. "I think it's time for us to seek a ceiling, a quantity licence for the number of minicabs," he said. "We've got 81,000 minicabs and it is growing -- it is growing at a rate of 1,200 a month. TfL has got to take a view."